MEDIA COURTHOUSE — An defense expert in accident investigation and reconstruction disputed some facts in the state police assessment of the Memorial Day 2013 shooting in Middletown, based on acceleration marks left at the scene and the angle of entry for one of three bullets fired into the victim’s vehicle.

Roger Rozsas told defense attorney Mike Malloy he placed the 2011 Volvo SUV that victim Margaret Grover had been driving slightly further away from where defendant Dr. Lauren Patricia Daly was standing when she allegedly fired three shots through the windshield on the evening of May 27.

Grover testified last week she had been at her former partner Daly’s home on the 200 block of North Middletown Road to drop off her daughter after a weekend visitation.

The victim and defendant have two children together, a boy, now 12, and a girl, now 10. After the couple split in April 2011, Grover retained custody of the boy while Daly retained custody of the girl.

Advertisement

Grover told the court the girl had exited the vehicle from the back and the couple’s son was sitting in the passenger seat when Daly approached the car and attempted to speak to the boy.

Daly was so close to the front of the vehicle that Grover testified she could not see the defendant’s legs, though Daly told investigators in a taped interview she had slapped at the hood of the SUV and jumped back before firing.

Assistant District Attorney Mary Mann has pointed to smudge marks on the front of the Volvo indicating Daly leaned over the hood to fire the second and third shots as Grover leaned to the right in the driver seat, pushing their 11-year-old son to the floor.

Once the shooting stopped, Grover said she put the vehicle into gear and accelerated away, turning sharply to avoid Daly and the defendant’s current partner, Donna Helgenberg, who allegedly had tackled Daly into the grass.

State police Cpl. Shawn Haines, a crash and collision expert, testified that tire marks left at the scene indicated a hard turn made by the driver, which was replicated in acceleration tests, but Rozsas disputed that finding, noting the car would have had to move eight or nine feet before leaving those marks.

The defense witness instead said the vehicle should be placed at a starting point directly on top of the marks because “there is no lag” in creating them once acceleration begins.

Rozsas also concluded Daly, a doctor at A.I. du Pont Hospital for Children in Wilmington, could have been further back from the car when the shooting took place, but Mann pointed out the angle of the shots would have put the gun higher up, at an angle that would have made the tight grouping and accuracy of those shots more difficult, if not impossible.

Mann also argued the shots panned left across the windshield, which would match with trying to hit a target moving in that direction.

Daly had told troopers that after firing the gun, she paused for a second to take in what had happened and that the car “kept rolling at me.”

Rozsas acknowledged he did not actually perform his own acceleration tests on the vehicle, and that the damaged windshield and dashboard had already been replaced when he conducted his own angle tests using yarn that was “close,” but not exactly straight.

Also testifying was state Trooper Phillip Rhym, who had been working in processing that night. He said Daly, who is charged with two counts of attempted murder, asked if “her kids” were alright, and expressed concern they would wind up with Grover. She also asked the trooper to make sure they had been fed.

But Rhym said on cross examination that the first thing Daly had said was that she did not understand why she was there, then asked if Grover was dead.

When Rhym told Daly that Grover had survived, he said she started crying profusely and asked if she had been moved to Crozer Chester Medical Center, which has a trauma care unit.

Rhym also said Daly told him that she and Grover “had their own kids,” that Grover had hit her with her car that night and that it was “not fair” that she was in custody.

The trial is expected to conclude Thrusday before Judge Michael F.X. Coll.

About the Author

Alex Rose covers court proceedings for the Daily Times. He also writes a weekly science column. Reach the author at arose@delcotimes.com
.